Brave the Wild River: Women Botanists and the 1938 Colorado River Expedition
Live Presentation via Zoom
Virtual Screening Room
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 12:00 PM
Arizona / Mountain Standard Time
In Brave the Wild River (W.W. Norton, 2023), science journalist Melissa L. Sevigny tells the story of two pioneering botanists, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, and their historic boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in the summer of 1938. At the time, the Colorado was famed as the most dangerous river in the world. But for Clover and Jotter, it held a tantalizing appeal: no one had surveyed the Grand Canyon’s plants, and they were determined to be the first. Through the vibrant letters and diaries of the two women, Sevigny traces their forty-three-day journey and explores how their botanical research remains vital to this day.